Wednesday moved back into the play-offs with a 3-2 win at promotion-chasing MK Dons tonight.
The victory lifts us into fifth place on 76 points from 42 games, ahead of Wycombe in sixth and Sunderland in seventh on goal difference and with a game in hand on the former. It leaves us two points behind fourth-placed Plymouth and they have also played a game more.
We raced into a three-goal lead within 30 minutes this evening, Saido Berahino (10 mins) and Lee Gregory (20) finishing off two Barry Bannan set pieces.
Bannan then scored a worldie on the half-hour mark when he saw keeper Jamie Cumming off his line and clipped home a 40-yarder that the skipper described as his best-ever goal after the match.
The near 6,000 travelling Wednesday fans were in dreamland at that stage but Troy Parrott’s smart finish just before the break gave the home side some hope.
Indeed, MK Dons dominated possession after the break but had to wait until the sixth of 10 added minutes to further reduce the arrears when Scott Twine fired home a 25-yard free kick.
That led to another nervy finish for Wednesday but we held on for the three points to keep us well in contention for a play-off place, also inflicting a first defeat in the last 16 games for MK Dons.
Darren Moore said afterwards: “It’s a tough place to come and we are really pleased to get three points.
“There was some real quality football from both sides and it was a great advert for division one football.”
As for Bannan’s goal, Moore said: “It was a. moment of sheer brilliance.”
Peacock-Farrell, Hunt, Storey, Dean (Dunkley 39), Palmer, Johnson, Byers, Dele-Bashiru, Bannan (Paterson 81). Berahino, Gregory (Mendez-Laing 90). Unused subs: Wildsmith, Brown, Iorfa, Shodipo.